Stocks are getting crushed

In what's been a topsy-turvy day for the market, stocks were
pressing to new lows around 2:40 p.m. ET with the Dow
down as many as 400 points, the S&P 500 dropping over
45, and the Nasdaq losing 135.

Earlier this morning, Dow futures had been off as many as
370 points, S&P 500 futures were down 43 points, and
Nasdaq futures were down 126.

investing.com

This decline comes a day after US
stocks sold off on
Wednesday, with the Dow falling 252 points and the S&P 500
closing below 2,000. Stocks in Europe were also
getting whacked on Thursday.

Crude oil had earlier broken to
new lows on Thursday, with West Texas Intermediate crude
falling another 4% to trade as low as $32.10, breaking the floor
of $32.80 hit during the financial crisis to mark a 14-year low
for the commodity. Brent
crude, the international benchmark, was off nearly 4% to trade as
low as $32.17 a barrel.

Following a report that Saudi Arabia's state-owned oil giant
Saudi Aramco
could be thinking about an IPO, oil prices rallied and
were sitting unchanged near 11 a.m. ET.

Overnight,
stocks in China closed early for the second time this week
after falling by 7% in just 15 minutes of trading. Chinese
stocks were similarly halted on Monday morning.

This halt in trading followed yet another weaker fix for China's
yuan, which is pegged against the dollar. The currency has
continued to weaken as the US dollar has rallied and concerns
about China's economy abound. A weaker currency helps make an
exporting country, like China, more competitive.